5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 1. Incline Press

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Incline -
BarX15
85X5
105X5
120X5
135X5

DB Rows -
45X15
50X10
55X20

Standing Leg Curls - 3 sets of 10-20

Farmers Carries - 25 minutes
Handles (120 lbs.) X1 trip down and back
160X1
200X1X5; 60 second rests
160X1X8; 45 second rests
120X1X5; 30 second rests

Incline bench was a little heavier than I expected.  Not having done it in over a year, I thought I would try 80% of my bench as my training max, similar to what I'm doing with Pause Squats, and similar to Pause Squats the weight is probably heavier than it should be.  I'm going to try and get through the first cycle just getting at least the required reps if possible.  If training is generally going well and not interfering with my rehearsal process, I will drop the training max and continue with the 2nd 3-week cycle.  Again similar to the plan for the Pause Squats.

Jim Wendler recently illuminated an aspect of so-called Kroc Rows that I had not grasped, and that is just doing 1-2 light warm-up sets before going for the all-out set.  I'm doing high-rep, heavy-for-me Kroc Rows on this cycle so it was timely for me to read that.  This went very well, and I will stay with this work weight until I hit 25+ and then I will go up 5 lbs.

I want to get hamstring work in on both sessions of this 2-day cycle, but this was difficult today because my hammies were still quite tore up from the heavy RDL's two days prior.  I used almost no weight, and just tried to get a lot of blood in there.  The upshot?  My hamstrings weren't sore at all the following day.  Very interesting...

Finally tried Farmer's Carries for the first time!  On this cycle I'm attempting a full-body-ish 2-day split.  Besides hamstring work, these carries are my "leg work" for upper-body day, as well as conditioning.  However this felt more like a fore-arm and elbow work-out.  I worked up from the empty handles to a weight I thought I could only get a few trips with (my body weight: 200 lbs.).  I took full minute rests and got 5 trips in before my grip felt like it was going to give out (left hand; important to remember).  Then I dropped weight and rest time and went again until my grip was about to give out, then dropped back to the empty handles and an even shorter rest and went again.  Took almost a 1/2 hour.